Now passengers can accumulate flying points and redeem free flights and avail many other additional services such as baggage handling, meals, etc.

“To enhance the loyalty benefits, BIG has also united with more than 100 partners worldwide. Guests can earn BIG points when they fly with AirAsia or when they make purchases with the partners,” AirAsia India said.

Passengers can sign up for AirAsia BIG at www.airasiabig.com for free and members can start earning points.

AirAsia India chief executive officer and managing director Mittu Chandilya said BIG as a loyalty programme is something he feels passionately about and for a low-cost carrier to have a loyalty programme is another way how the airline is revolutionizing air travel in India.

“AirAsia customers have been the reason for our success these many years, and we at AirAsia BIG would like to show our appreciation for their much-valued support,” said Bernard Francis, chief operation officer at BIG.

AirAsia has just a little over 2% of the domestic passenger market. Losses have tripled to Rs 65 crore in the September quarter compared with a year earlier; even rival airline SpiceJet, which nearly collapsed last December, is again making profits. The airline has also consumed the entire $30 million put in by the shareholders and is surviving only by advance sale of tickets.

AirAsia has just a little over 2% of the domestic passenger market. Losses have tripled to Rs 65 crore in the September quarter compared with a year earlier; even rival airline SpiceJet, which nearly collapsed last December, is again making profits. The airline has also consumed the entire $30 million put in by the shareholders and is surviving only by advance sale of tickets.

If it closes shop and stops its operations, it is no big deal. India has too many domestic carriers, all chasing more or less the same routes. This will enable the others to survive and post profits.

I question why it was allowed a license anyway, the lead investor is foreign owned at 49%. Each of the Indian investors have less shares than the foreign investor. I agree with Bhatia that it indirectly (or may be directly) controlled by the Malaysian parent. If the Malaysian parent were to sell about 10% of the shares (to bring its share from 49 to 39) to Bhatia or to some other Indian investor, then it would be acceptable.

AirAsia India continues to see key executive resignations: report
News
22-Dec-2015 9:50 AM
AirAsia India reportedly continues to see resignations by key executives, with the head of the commercial departing reportedly departing during Nov-2015 (Live Mint, 22-Dec-2015). More than 12 executives have reportedly resigned since launch including those in key financial, commercial and flight operations positions.

They have 6 Aircraft . 3 each based out of DEL and BLR . They have one of the highest aircraft utilization in India if not the highest for an airline .

If they add the next one in DEL,would they lose the benefits that BIAL extends to the currently?

Yup , they would . Hence the next one will definitely be based out of BLR . I5 were lucky in moving from MAA to BLR . The city is the start up capital of India , the IT hub and the third busiest Airport in India .

The largely young and urban population will take to I5 and am sure when they grow , they will have enough takers for their product .

Mittu Chandilya, the modelturned-headhunter picked by AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes to run its India joint venture, is likely to quit in March when his current two-year contract with the airline ends. Amar Abrol, chief of AirAsia Bhd's insurance arm Tune Money, is the frontrunner among three executives being considered to replace Chandilya as AirAsia India chief executive, people with knowledge of the development said.

The matter will likely come up for approval at the airline's next board meeting, expected by the end of this month. The airline has probably also selected a new chief financial officer, the people said. Chandilya's likely exit brings to a head a top-level exodus at the Indian airline, partly due to disagreements with the Malaysian parent and differences among the shareholders - AirAsia Bhd, Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace of Arun Bhatia.

He was a bad idea, to start with. India in particular is no place for a person with zero airline experience to be running an airline startup. I wonder what Tony was drinking when he hired him.

Rumor is that he will be replaced by Arik De of Air Asia X, who was formerly with SpiceJet._________________I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

He was a bad idea, to start with. India in particular is no place for a person with zero airline experience to be running an airline startup. I wonder what Tony was drinking when he hired him.

Rumor is that he will be replaced by Arik De of Air Asia X, who was formerly with SpiceJet.

It amazes me how on this forum we can have such strong opinions about an airline or a CEO in the above case without knowing the person or whats happening within the airline.

In that sweeping statement you have questioned both the business acumen of Tony Fernandes and Mittu Chandilya. I have as much clue as anyone else on here as to what is happening at I5 however personally i would not make such comments.

There again , the beauty of our Democratic Republic is that we can all choose to have an opinion and express it. I personally would only express one which is backed by first hand info .

AirAsia India CEO Mittu Chandilya is not quitting the airline, AirAsia Group chief Tony Fernandes said on Sunday as he announced that the 2-year old Indian carrier would “shortly” add two aircraft as part of its fleet expansion plans.

“I read about Mittu calling it quits from you guys. I absolutely deny it. There is no substance to the rumours,” the Malaysian airline group chief told reporters at the Make in India week here.

Unconfirmed reports had a few days ago said that Mr. Chandilya has put in his papers.

To questions on the loss-making airline’s much-delayed fleet expansion plan, Mr. Fernandes said two more planes would be inducted “shortly and a dozen later” but did not put a time line to these deliveries.

It amazes me how on this forum we can have such strong opinions about an airline or a CEO in the above case without knowing the person or whats happening within the airline.

In that sweeping statement you have questioned both the business acumen of Tony Fernandes and Mittu Chandilya. I have as much clue as anyone else on here as to what is happening at I5 however personally i would not make such comments.

Mittu was from a headhunting firm, and had never worked in an airline before. I don't think any of his peers in other airlines are as inexperienced as he is.
I know all this stuff about 'fresh blood', 'risk taking', 'fortune favouring the brave' and other cliches but putting an inexperienced chap at the helm of such a big investment in such a risky market can be termed 'adventurism', at best.

And the results seem to be showing.

I'm happy to note that their product seems to be rather nice though._________________I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

Don't think Arik is going to India. I actually just asked him while trying to push him to a new CCO position in the Gulf. He had never heard of this rumor and started laughing. His exact words were, "dude, I specifically chose X because it was a challenge and to be part of Ben's team".

After months of speculation, AirAsia India on Thursday announced a change to its top leadership with Amar Abrol succeeding Mittu Chandilya as the CEO of the airline, with effect from April 1, 2016.

"Chandilya’s contract ends on March 31, 2016, but he will continue with the company until the end of April to ensure a smooth transition of the CEO role," a statement from the airline read.

Abrol, a graduate from Delhi University and a chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, was most recently the CEO of Tune Money, a startup that aims to deliver low-cost financial products in Southeast Asia.

Before joining Tune Money in 2013, he spent 19 years with American Express, leading diverse teams across multiple markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, India and Malaysia.

S Ramadorai, chairman of AirAsia India, said: “Mittu Chandilya led the airline team from the front through its launch and establishment in an intensely competitive market. The board deeply appreciates his contribution. In Amar Abrol, we have a strong successor, with years of experience in customer delivery, which will be critical to the airline’s future. Together with his senior management team, we are confident that Amar will lead AirAsia India into its next stage of growth.”

"The past three years have been a rewarding and enriching journey for me and AirAsia India. I am delighted that AirAsia India is today a customer-preferred airline in the sectors that it operates. I will truly miss each member in our young organisation without whose passion and energy none of this would have been possible," said Chandilya.

Tata Sons is increasing its stake in AirAsia India to 49%, buying 7.94% of shares held by Arun Bhatia-controlled Telestra Tradeplace. An additional 2% of Bhatia's shares are being acquired by Tata Group executives and airline board members S Ramadorai and R Venkataramanan.

The share sale, expected to be completed next month, will result in Bhatia exiting the airline completely and Tatas and their executives holding 51% in the airline. AirAsia Malaysia will retain its 49% in the airline.

The airline's first eighteen months have been marked by an ugly spat between Bhatia and the airline's Malaysian partners. Bhatia did not participate in last round of fund raising in 2015 which saw his stake being reduced to 10% and accused AirAsia's Group CEO Tony Fernandes of remote-controlling the airline, a charge denied by both Tatas and Fernandes.

The transaction is expected to pave the way for long delayed fund infusion in the airline.

In a statement Tata Sons said it has entered into an agreement with Air Asia (India) Limited and Telestra Tradeplace Private Limited for the stake purchase. AirAsia India chairperson S. Ramadorai and Mr. R. Venkataramanan, in their individual capacity, propose to acquire 0.5% and 1.5% shareholding respectively of Telestra’s remaining 2% equity stake in the company. AirAsia Investment Ltd. will continue to hold its 49% stake in the company. The agreement was entered into on March 14, 2016, and the transaction is proposed to be completed in April, 2016, subject to completion of the relevant corporate approvals and processes, it said._________________

Passengers of budget carrier AirAsia India flying out of the Kempegowda International Airport here can now avail the self check-in facility, which will enable the passengers to head directly for boarding.

With 30 self check-in kiosks available at the airport, AirAsia India now gets closer to enhanced guest satisfaction by easing the process of check-in, the airline said in a statement.

Guests checking in through these kiosks can directly proceed for seamless boarding, it added. “At AirAsia, it is our constant endeavor to enhance our guests’ experience and this is a beginning among many other initiatives to serve our guests better,” the airline said.

AirAsia India flew 5.4 lakh passengers while its load factor touched 86 per cent in the three months ended March 2016.

The airline's load factor has increased from 79 per cent recorded in the year-ago period.

"AirAsia India posted load factor of 86 per cent in Q1 2016... Number of passengers carried was at 0.54 million (5.4 lakh), up by 127 per cent year-on-year," Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad said today while releasing the operating statistics for the first quarter of this year.

At the end of March 2016, AirAsia India had a fleet of six planes.

"In Q1 2016, the group recorded load factor of 86 per cent... Number of passengers carried increased 17 per cent year-on-year to 13.9 million," AirAsia Berhad said in a release.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today moved the Delhi High Court seeking "immediate suspension" of flying licence granted to airline AirAsia India alleging that it had obtained it through "fraud".

The application, also seeking contempt proceedings against three officials of AirAsia for allegedly filing false counter affidavit in the court, was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, which is hearing Swamy's plea challenging grant of flying licence to AirAsia India by regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Swamy has contended that one of the officials had made false statement in his counter affidavit filed in court while the other two had acted with the alleged intention of "misleading" the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and DGCA into grant of approvals, permits and permissions.

He alleged that the officials did not disclose the commercial agreement of April 17, 2014 titled 'Brand License Agreement' in relation to determination of effective control as it clearly establishes that the operations, management and policy decisions are controlled by the foreign airline, AirAsia Berhad, and is not with Indian Nationals.

Apart from seeking immediate suspension of the airline's licence, the application has sought calling of records of DGCA and to examine them to see whether the authorities had granted the AOP after considering the commercial agreement executed AirAsia India.

In his PIL, Swamy has challenged the clearance granted to the airline on the ground that according to the policy, foreign investment is only permitted for an existing airline but AirAsia India was not an existing carrier. _________________

AirAsia India today announced the expansion of its services to Guwahati from the national capital with the addition of a new flight on the route from July 17.

With this addition, AirAsia India will now operate 40 daily flights connecting 10 destinations across India. Effective July 17, AirAsia India will operate a third direct flight connecting the two destinations —New Delhi and Guwahati, the airline said.

AirAsia India said on Wednesday that it planned to gradually expand its fleet and network in India as it seeks to boost its small market share in the fast expanding domestic market.

The airline, a tie-up between Malaysian carrier AirAsia Bhd and India's Tata Sons conglomerate, said it planned to add a seventh A320 jet to its fleet and bring the south Indian city of Hyderabad into its network of destinations by September.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, AirAsia India's Chief Executive Amar Abrol said the airline is looking to expand further and that it would be investing significant sums of money in the future._________________

AirAsia India said on Wednesday that it planned to gradually expand its fleet and network in India as it seeks to boost its small market share in the fast expanding domestic market.

The airline, a tie-up between Malaysian carrier AirAsia Bhd and India's Tata Sons conglomerate, said it planned to add a seventh A320 jet to its fleet and bring the south Indian city of Hyderabad into its network of destinations by September.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, AirAsia India's Chief Executive Amar Abrol said the airline is looking to expand further and that it would be investing significant sums of money in the future.

Air Asia India is well on course to achieve the fleet size of 20 by the end of 2018 after, which it would start flying on the international routes, said the airline Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amar Abrol on Wednesday.

Announcing the induction of the eighth A 320 aircraft, which is slated to fly on the new route between Hyderabad and Kochi from October 8, 2016, Air Asia India CEO informed that the second round of funding, which was required for acquisition and operation of all the remaining aircraft was going to be completed in a couple of weeks time.

According to Abrol, the airline company is in the final stage of approval to receive a ' few multiple millions of dollars ' of equity infusion from the two joint venture partners-Tata Sons and Air Asia as the boards of respective companies had already approved the decision. The initial tranche of $30 million has been fully utilised, he said._________________

No-frills carrier AirAsia India has partnered with Reliance General Insurance for providing travel insurance to its flyers.

Under the partnership, the Reliance Inland Travel Care Policy will be offered to passengers of AirAsia India.

The policy will cover "trip cancellation and interruption, trip delay, missed flight connection, damage or total loss of checked-in baggage and hospitalisation due to accident", the airline said in a release on Monday.

It will be priced at a premium of Rs 149 for 30 days, Rs 279 for 60 days and Rs 399 for 90 days.

"Under this tie-up, we have made comprehensive travel insurance provisions for AirAsia flyers that will enable travellers to be adequately insured in case of any travel-related eventuality," Reliance General Insurance CEO Rakesh Jain said.

Besides, AirAsia India has re-launched its Red Carpet service across New Delhi, Jaipur, Guwahati, Vizag, Kochi, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad.

The service, which can be pre-booked, will provide the passenger access to lounge with food, beverages and Wi-Fi as well as a dedicated counter check-in, among others.

AirAsia India CEO Amar Abrol said the carrier has a "pay for what they use" model that allows it to keep costs low and pass on the benefit in the form of low fares.

The civil aviation ministry says that it granted an airline licence to AirAsia India because it was not aware of the details of the relationship the company has with its parent, Malaysia-based AirAsia Bhd.

In April, Mint first reported the nature of this relationship, detailed in a brand licence agreement between AirAsia India and AirAsia Bhd, which effectively grants control of the former to the latter in contravention of Indian law.

This control is currently the matter of a case in the Delhi high court filed by Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy.

The ministry is likely to file a detailed affidavit in the high court on 11 November admitting the above.

Indian law allows a foreign airline to own up to 49% of an Indian one, but the Indian entity has to be controlled and run by Indian partners. AirAsia Malaysia, through AirAsia Investment Ltd, owns 49% in AirAsia India. The Tata group owns 49%. And two directors in the firm—S. Ramadorai and R. Venkataramanan—hold the rest.

In April, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was not aware of any brand licence agreement between AirAsia India and its Malaysian parent.

A few weeks ago, according to two government officials who asked not to be named, DGCA asked its parent, the aviation ministry, if it had a copy of the brand licence agreement.

DGCA grants airline licences only after the ministry issues a so-called no-objection certificate.

The aviation ministry has admitted, Mint learns, that it does not have a copy of the agreement.

The civil aviation ministry, said one of the government officials quoted above, would have liked to issue a show cause notice to the airline but has decided to let the court decide on the matter.

Civil aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey said as much in an interview with Mint last month. “The court will tell us what to do,” he said.

AirAsia India’s current CEO Amar Abrol did not respond to an email seeking comments on the subject.

The second government official said the government does not want to be seen as shutting down an operating airline at a time when its emphasis is on creating jobs.

“It is a fait accompli. I think it is very difficult to go back on it,” this official added, implying that the aviation regulator will not proceed against the airline.

The court, however, could take a different view.

Swamy disagreed with the argument that it is fait accompli and compared the case with the so-called 2G scam which prompted the Supreme Court in 2012 to scrap 122 licences issued to telecom firms at throwaway prices.

Keen to expand its domestic presence, AirAsia India is evaluating the proposition of operating regional flights with A320 planes under the government's UDAN scheme.

The ambitious UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme aims to connect unserved and under-served airports in the country while participating airlines would get various incentives, including viability gap funding and other financial concessions.

AirAsia India, which currently has eight A320 planes, expects to have a fleet of 10 aircraft by end of this fiscal. According to a senior airline official, options of participating in UDAN are being evaluated and a decision would be taken depending on the commercial viability of the regional routes.

"We are evaluating which routes can be served by A320. If it is viable, we will certainly look into it," the official told PTI.

AirAsia is most likely to start its flight operations from Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport here in July. It will operate two flights on Delhi-Patna-Delhi route from July following a final nod from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

In fact, different airlines have made proposals to operate total 32 flights from Patna airport under the summer schedule. Twenty flights operate from Patna airport at present under the winter schedule, which is likely to end by February 15.

Patna airport director Rajendra Singh Lahauria told TOI on Friday, "AirAsia has submitted a schedule to the DGCA for operating two flights between Delhi and Patna from July. The first flight will land here at 8:30am and the second at 8:30pm." _________________

Despite the controversies swirling around it, AirAsia India is going ahead with its plans to fly international routes by this year-end and expects to go public in the near future.

“We have the investments in place. Our pockets are full, talent is in and we are hiring in advance,” the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Amar Abrol, told BusinessLine.

AirAsia India has committed to invest $50 million to expand operations, including adding more aircraft to its fleet. The airline currently has 10 aircraft and 10 more will be added this year.

He also said that AirAsia India will fly international routes on its own instead of taking the help of either AirAsia Berhad or Vistara.

He said the airline would fly to all destinations that can be reached within 3-4 hours. “At a group level, there are bigger aircraft. If there is a demand, we can go in for wide-bodied aircraft. But as of now, the A320 will be our mainstay.”

He also said that the airline might enter a code-share pact with Air Asia Thailand or Malaysia as they fly deep into those regions though it will not happen immediately.

Low-cost carrier AirAsia India is currently in talks with the management of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) to start operations from country’s most congested yet important airport in the city.

Though the airline management is very keen to connect their network with financial capital Mumbai, there is nothing concrete as of now, claim the sources.

When asked about the development, Amar Abrol, managing director and CEO of AirAsia India, said that it was not that they did not want to come to Mumbai, but it was about when.

Kiran Jain, director - commercial, AirAsia India, when asked about the ongoing talks between the airline and Mial over slot availability, said, “I can not talk about it now.”

Though AirAsia initially remained away from the highly-congested airports of Delhi and Mumbai, the airline finally announced operations from the national capital in March 2015. The reason for starting flights from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was that it is a comparatively less congested, and therefore, there’s more availability of slots for the airlines.

This is not the first time that AirAsia might be looking at starting services from Mumbai.

In September 2015, AirAsia’s group chief executive Tony Fernandes had announced the flight from Mumbai with a tweet, “We are coming.”

“In Incredible India... Bombay (Mumbai) is changing by the day... AIRASIA India will be starting in this metro soon,” his tweet had added with a pomp.

CSIA is among the busiest airports in the Indian sub-continent due to several constraints, the primary one being operation of just one runway at a time.

Though the airport management has through infrastructure development and better co-ordination with airline, pilots, air traffic controllers and others managed to improve the number of flight operations per day, the situation remains on the verge of crisis, claim industry experts.

The airport sees around 48 aircraft movement per hour, which the management wants to increase to around between 55-60.

According to the airline insiders, the situation becomes bad for the airlines, especially the newer entrants as the traffic feed comes primarily from metros like Delhi and Mumbai. The situation gets worse as all airlines try to take whatever available slots as might not be available in future, thereby blocking the slots further, even though they may not genuinely be needing it at point of time, the insiders said.

Air Asia India has announced to double its fleet size from the current size of 8 to 14 aircraft by October this year, airline CEO Amar Abrol said at a press conference today.

"We plan to increase the fleet size to 14 by October or before Diwali. With these addition, we plan to consolidate our position on the existing routes rather than on adding destinations," Abrol said in Delhi today.

The airline currently operates to 13 airports in the country and may increase it to 16 with the addition of these seven aircraft.

The airline also aims at starting international operations by the middle of 2018.

"A team has started working on charting out plans for our international operations. Whenever we go international, Eastern part of India is where we would start our international operations to," he said.

The airline would also looking at integrating its schedule with other AirAsia group airlines, which Abrol says together operates 90 weekly flights into India. _________________

AirAsia India today announced its addition of two new destinations in Kolkata and Ranchi and said that Kolkata will be its third hub. With the launch of these destinations, AirAsia will operate to 15 destinations in the country.

AirAsia operates a fleet of 9 Airbus A320 aircraft. The ninth aircraft was added during the beginning of this year. Kolkata will become airline’s third hub in India after Bengaluru and Delhi.

“2017 is proving to be a very exciting year for us. Our determination to serve regional India is paving way for a successful implementation of our planned strategy. The continued support of the Central and State Governments in a young AirAsia India, is an affirmation to me, as we work towards helping Indians fly,” Amar Abrol, MD & CEO, AirAsia India was quoted in the release._________________